Flashback Weekend A Howling Success!

I just wanted to give a little bit of a shout out to Mike and Mia Kerz, and the whole Flashback Family, for giving us fans an incredible weekend. That was our first show in close to 2 years, which was just killing us not to be around our convention family and friends. But it did happen this last weekend, at the beautiful Hyatt Regency Hotel, and we had a blast.

I didn’t get a chance to take too many photos over the 3-day event mainly because we were so busy at our table! Never a bad thing. But we got to chat with plenty of fellow fans, sold a bunch of horror reference books, and got to hang out until the wee hours in the morning talking about the genre we love!

Flashback Approaches!

Our first real convention since October of 2019 is only 2 weeks away, and it looks like it is going to be HUGE! Moving to a new location, the Hyatt Regency O’Hare, this place looks to be not only a much bigger location, but is going to allow for even more fun. I can’t wait to be able to hang out with all our convention friends and family once again. It really has been way too long.

Return of the Kryptic World Tour

It looks like we will be returning to the convention circuit (if all still goes according to plan) at the end of July, for the Flashback Weekend, taking place in Rosemont, IL, from July 30th to August 1st. It’s been a long time coming, so we are very excited about it.

As usual, Flashback Weekend has come up with a wide variety of guests that should make all horror fans happy! They have Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith from the Saw series appearing, Mark Rolston and Jenette Goldstein from Aliens (among many other roles), a Friday the 13th: A New Beginning reunion with Melanie Kinnaman, Deborah Voorhees, Dick Wieand, Ron Sloan, and Carol Locatell. Also on hand will be Kane Hodder and Nick Castle.

HorrorHound Approaches!

Next weekend, we’ll be heading back to Indianapolis for the HorrorHound Weekend, which looks to be one massive gathering of horror fans! Taking place at the Indiana Convention Center, this one looks like it will be HorrorHound’s biggest show yet! With an incredible lineup of guests, tons of different dealers, as well as Mask-Fest, it is going to be a horror fans dream come true.

For the latest info, such a complete guest and vendor list, head over to their website HERE.

We will be set up there as usual, with our booths being in M04 & M05. It’s great that they have a listing of where the different dealers are, which should make it so much easier to find a particular one if you so desire. You can see the layout I posted below, where I’ve circled where we are. Just so yo can find us even easier! We will also be selling copies of my new book, Discover the Horror, so if you haven’t ordered your copy already, now is your chance to pick one up and I’ll even sign it for you, free of charge, of course! Of if you had already ordered your copy through Amazon, bring it along and I’ll be glad to sign it for you.

Discover the Horror Book Launch!

Last Saturday, we had the official book launch party for my book Discover the Horror, at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago. I also had the wonderful opportunity to introduce the film The Giant Claw (1957) before the signing in the lounge area. Now honestly, going into this, I was hoping the film would have a good turnout, but expected it to be 4 or 5 of my friends that were coming out to support me. In reality, there was quite a bit more than that! In fact, we had several people there that had never seen the film before, so we knew they were in for a real treat.

Upcoming Shows

Now that Cinevent is in the books, lets look ahead to our next two shows coming up real soon.

Next month we head to Mars, PA, once again for the Monster Bash. Damn, do I just love this show. They have a great guest lineup this year, including Ricou Browning, the last living classic Universal monster! Their other guests include: Beverly Washburn, Martine Beswicke, Veronica Carlson, Christopher Neame, Sharyn Moffett, Cortlandt Hull, Kris Yeaworth, Tom Savini, and John Russo. They also have a few notable authors there, another reason I love this show, such as Troy Howarth, Frank Dello Stritto, Tom Weaver, Gregory Mank, Deborah Painter, and Robert Michael Cotter.

Cinevent Next Weekend!

Seems like forever since our last stop on this year’s Discover the Horror World Tour. But next week, we’ll be heading to Columbus, Ohio for the annual Cinevent Classic Film Convention. This is taking place from Thursday, May 23rd, to Sunday, May 26th, at the Renaissance Columbus Downtown.

Hard to believe, but this show has been running for over 50 years. And unlike most shows, this is all about collecting and memorabilia. While there are a few guests, they are mainly authors and film historians, so there is no autograph lines drawing people from the dealer room. Just a good old fashioned collector’s show. While this isn’t a horror show, there is still plenty enough to keep me interested and browsing, and I usually come home with a few good things.

This show has films playing all weekend long, starting at noon on Thursday and running until midnight. On Friday and Saturday, they are running from 9am until midnight. Most of the films are not in the horror genre, but this time out, I’m going to have the chance to catch the 1974 exploitation film Fangs (also know as Holy Wednesday) on Saturday night! Since we’re actually staying at the hotel this time, it will be no problem catching that one!

Monsterpalooza – Part 5: Celebs and Goodbye!

We never bothered with going to the celebs that were signing outside in the hall, mainly because they were ones that have been convention regulars, plus the fact that I had no interests in paying for an autograph. But there were more than a few “famous” people wandering around the vendor room throughout the weekend. On Saturday, as Dawn, Scott, and me were wandering around, we were coming up to the Severin table and I see this hat from the back. I looked over at Scott and said, “That’s Richard Stanley! I can tell by the hat.” And I was right. In 1990, I was got to see Stanley’s first feature film, Hardware, in the theater. It was an incredible experience, filled with colors, images, and music, all intertwined together into this futuristic, post-apocalyptic tale of humanity, barely holding on. His second feature, Dust Devil (1992), was another visually stunning film. His latest film, Color Out of Space, is in post-production and I can’t wait to see it. Stanley is one of those directors that I had never met before, but always wanted to at least shake his hand and thank him for his work. And now, I got to do just that. Another one off my bucket list.

Monsterpalooza – Part 4: The Vendors

Since this was our first West Coast show in close to two decades, I was hoping to see some vendors that we don’t normally see the usual shows that we go to. We definitely did, which is why I probably I spent so much money! But the Krypt is always needing some new little trinkets, right? Got to keep it fresh, right? Like this little Blind Dead bust? I mean, can you really have too many Blind Dead items? I didn’t think so either. Especially when it is a bust that was sculpted by Daniel Horne!

Sometimes after walking around any vendor room, you see plenty of cool stuff, but nothing really jumping out at you that is demanding that you take it home with you. Earlier in the weekend, we noticed that this guy had some old-fashioned looking hand puppets, but with characters you wouldn’t expect to be seeing, such as the little doll from Dario Argento’s Deep Red or Corbis from The Devil’s Rain! These were handmade and very cool, but with a price tag of $50, I really didn’t need one of those. Then walking by their table again on Sunday, either I missed it the first few times or they just put it out, but now they had a Mr. Sardonicus puppet out. Being a huge Castle fan, I just couldn’t pass it up and bought it. Check them out at www.skullclown.com. Just they don’t have a lot listed on their site so just email them and ask about their puppets. Or about all the other cool stuff they had out on their table. I know I’ll be looking for them again at the next show.

Monsterpalooza – Part 2: Displays

On Friday, we finally make our way over to Monsterpalooza. We were technically dealer “helpers” so we got in right away, and thankfully so because the line to get in was freaking huge each and every single day of the 3-day event. A little advice to those coming to this show, be prepared to be on your feet a LOT! With a concrete floor, it plays holy hell on your feet, legs, and back. At least I know it did for us. Plus, there’s not a ton of places to sit down either. Normally, as vendors, we get to sit behind our table more than wander around so it’s no big deal. But not being at a table, I really felt the effects of it by Friday night and really aching by the time Sunday was over. I think I need to take a vacation to recoup from this vacation!